ITAS Urban Transition Lab to be extended

The Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science, Research, and the Arts funds the establishment of the Karlsruhe Transformation Center for Sustainable Futures and Cultural Change (KAT) to consolidate the transdisciplinary ITAS activities in Karlsruhe.

Remains the center and origin of all real-world lab activities in ITAS: the Future Space in Karlsruhe’s Oststadt. (Photo: KIT)

ITAS scientists have been committed to a transformation towards sustainable ways of life and business in Karlsruhe for several years. In the context of their transdisciplinary real-world lab projects District Future – Urban Lab and Urban Transition Lab 131 they initiate and study real-life transformation processes and societal learning processes. They accompany, for instance, the energy transition within the district and the introduction of new mobility systems or climate-friendly forms of consumption.

Funded by the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science, Research, and the Arts, the researchers can now institutionalize and align their transdisciplinary activities to long-term goals. The Ministry supports the conception and development of the “Karlsruhe Transformation Center for Sustainable Futures and Cultural Change” with EUR 480,000. KAT takes up the task to close the gap between knowledge and action and support the cultural change towards more sustainability and the related technological, social, and institutional conversion of society in the long term.

Apart from continuing the already existing real-world lab activities, project heads Oliver Parodi and Andreas Seebacher and their team want to extend their range of tasks with the newly founded Transformation Center. Education, advice, and transdisciplinary fundamental research shall complement the portfolio of the existing Urban Transition Lab. Also the ITAS knowledge gained over the last years on the theoretical and conceptual further development of the “real-world lab” format will be included. (26.01.2018)